DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Dutertesaid he supports the Bangsamoro Basic Law because it has similar aspects as his advocacy for federalism.

He encouraged the government to continue with the peace talks.

â€œWe canâ€™t afford a war in our economy and our people. We have to rise above our anger. Resume the talks. Pray and rise above your anger kay kinahanglan nato ang kalinaw,â€ Duterte said in his remarks at the grand reunion of the Veloso clan at the Casino EspaÃ±ol.

Duterte is related to the Veloso clan throuh his father. The Velosos sang â€œHappy Birthdayâ€ and surprised him with a birthday. The mayor turns 70 tomorrow.

Before he arrived in Cebu, Duterte was in Bohol where he was the guest speaker at the commencement exercises of the BIT International College in Tagbilaran City.

In his speech, Duterte said he was wary of running for president.

He said he didnâ€™t want to be accused of stealing or get jailed after his term.

(Thatâ€™s why I donâ€™t want to be president. If you are good looking and you become president, you will come out ugly and foul-smelling. If you are not so good looking, you will end up uglier. And the police will arrest you and take you to Camp Crame. You can keep that. )

Duterte has been traveling around the country for speaking engagements and high-profile events.

He says this is part of his advocacy for federalism, but observers see the exposure as a way of testing the waters for a presidential run run in 2016.

In Cebu, his staff distributed copies of a February 23 special edition of the Philippines Graphic magazine which featured Duterte in a front page exclusive interview titled â€œIf I become President.â€

Red and blue baller bracelets with the phrase â€œDuterte. Atin â€˜to pre!â€ were also distributed.

He was noncomittal when asked about articles that some other presidential contenders have expressed their intent to give way to Duterte if he decides to run.

â€œI still canâ€™t react to that. Maybe in the next few days, I will decide,â€ Duterte said in an interview yesterday.

He lamented that local governments remit their income to the national government without assurance of getting what they deserve in return.

Manila every week, and yet pag bahin-bahin wala mi.â€ he said. (Davao gives P5 billion to the national coffers but we get nothing in return.)

He said the centralized government â€œhas been robbing us blind for the past years.â€

After his speech, Duterte was given by the Veloso Foundation of the Philippines Inc. a citation for his â€œpositive impact in Philippine national public service as public prosecutor, mayor and representative of the city of Davao.â€

dr. eloy makes more than a million dollars a year from his salary and dividends from their corporation. in time, mahimo ni sijang pareha sa ahong ig-agaw nga si dr. alfonso veloso mellijor. tag-ija ug hospital